•  EXLIBRC  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 


JOHN  HENRY  NASH  LIBRARY 

SAN  FRANCISCO 

PRESENTED  TO  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

ROBERT  GORDON  SPRQUL,  PRESIDENT. 


MR.ANDMRS.MILTON  S.RAV 

CECILY,  VIRGINIA  AND  ROSALYN  RAY 

AND  THE 

RAY  OIL  BURNERGOMPANY 


K I  D  D: 

A  MORAL  OPUSCULE 

The  Verse  [sic]  by     Illustrations  [sick~\ 

Richard  J.  by  George 

Walsh  Illian 


NEW  YORK:  William  Edwin  Rudge 

1922 


OothisisKidd! 

Observe  the  lid. 

Recall  the  evil  things  he  did. 


COPYRIGHT  192.2 
BY  GEORGE  J.   ILLIAN 


He  scuttled  ships  on  trading  trips. 
He  toted  knives  on  both  his  hips. 
He  cursed  [a  crank].  He  spat.  He  drank. 
He  made  the  virtuous  walk  the  plank, 
And  took  their  gold  to  fill  his  hold, 
[At  least,  so  I  was  always  told]. 


So  we  began  to  make  this  book- 
The  artist  being  Georgie  Illian — 
Depicting  that  historic  crook 
In  vicious  green  and  dire  vermilion. 
And  George  [who  once  was  on  a  boat] 
Drew  rakish  hulls  and  chests  of  treasure, 
And  scoundrels  out  to  cut  your  throat, 
And  sink  your  bark  to  suit  their  pleasure. 


And  then,  in  all  the  public  prints, 
[Of  every  hue  from  red  to  yellow] 
I  came  upon  the  broadest  hints 
That  Kidd  was  just  an  honest  fellow 


Who  lived  a  life  of  piety, 
Devoid  of  sin  and  pirate  folly,  . 
Aspiring  by  sobriety 
To  win  his — shall  we  call  her  Molly? 
Honored  through  all  his  native  village, 
An  honest  sailor,  poor  but  haughty, 
The  last  one  to  indulge  in  pillage, 
Nautical,  but  never  naughty. 


How  then,  you  ask,  has  Kidd  attained 
This  reputation  as  a  pirate? 
The  fact  is  readily  explained. 
When  friends  of  his  got  really  irate 
And  cried  "These  pirates,  if  we  let  'em, 
Will  steal  the  ocean  drop  by  drop," 
Kidd  volunteered  to  go  and  get  'em, 
And  so  became  a  pirate  cop. 


He  chased  them  far,  he  chased  them  long, 
Till  of  their  craft  the  seas  were  rid; 


But  History  got  the  story  wrong 
And  wrote  him  down  as  "Pirate  Kidd. 


O  lost  romance!  O  faded  glory! 
Tarnished  our  hero  and  diminished! 
Why  did  they  have  to  spoil  the  story 
Just  as  we  had  the  pictures  finished? 
But  then  the  printer,  Billy  Roidge, 
Exclaimed  "I've  bought  the  paper  now, 
I'm  not  the  one  to  bear  a  grudge, 
I'll  print  the  pictures  anyhow." 


A  picture-book  without  the  text 
Is  like  a  maid  without  a  tongue, 
And  so  I  sought  [a  little  vexed] 
To  find  a  message  for  the  young- 
A  tail  to  wag  the  artist's  dog, 
A  moral  to  adorn  the  tale; 
I  hit  upon  this  epilogue 
For  every  young,  ambitious  male: 


MORAL 

To  win  a  Bradstreet  reputation 
'Tis  not  enough  that  you  be  pure, 
Avoid  the  very  implication 
Of  knowing  any  evil-doer. 
Seek  not  his  mischief  to  undo, 
Nor  separate  him  from  his  pelf, 
Or  fame  may  mix  him  up  with  you, 
And  you  with  him. 
Don't  Kidd  yourself. 

THE  END 


COLO  S^i  PHONY 

wl 
NO  f  !  TE 


Executed\JJung  up]  at  the  Printing  House  of  BittoRudge, 
Mount  Vernon,  New  York,  during  the  Summer  of  1^22. 
The  Press  Gang  assisting  at  the  execution  comprised  the 
fo [towing  notorious  persons : 

Richard  $>  Wafsfi,  B.  P.  D.  (Doctor  of  Bad  Verse) 

George  Ifh'an,  D.U.D.  ( Doctor  of  Underdone  Design) 

Tred  W.  Goudy,  T.D.  (  Typothetic  Designer) 

Bertha  M.  Goudy,  C.E>.        (Compositrice  Extraordinaire) 
Bruce  Rogers,  L.O.M.  (Lay-out  Man) 

Tranfi S.  Goerfie,  L.U.M.  (Lock-up  Man) 

Paul '  $.  Peters,  R.I.  P.  (Reader  of  Incoherent  Proof) 

Thomas  C.  Hughes,  M.  P.  (Master  of  the  Press) 

Edith  Diehf,  B.B.  (Book  Bindress) 

Tranfi  Branca,  P.  S.  (Packer  &  shipper) 

NIC  ETNUNC 

(Especially  Hie) 


